Review: Friends With Benefits

Don't expect tips on how to achieve that holy grail from Justin Timberlake

Don't expect tips on how to achieve that holy grail from Justin Timberlake

Girls love rom-coms. It’s a fact of life, and one that means you’ll be dragged along for the soggy, sappiest that Hollywood to offer on more Saturday evenings than you’d rather. There’s not much you can do about that, but a film with GQ in it has got to be promising, right?

The film begins snappily enough – two break-ups, but no cause for serious heartburn. Jamie (Mila Kunis) is a smart and sexy ”Executive Recruiter” (read hot headhunter with puppy dog eyes) trying to tempt rising L.A. art director Dylan (Justin Timberlake) to New York for a big break with GQ magazine (who wouldn’t?). There’s a definite spark between the two that helps the film stay afloat most of the time, though it must be said that a lot of their chemistry seems to depend on modern phenomena like flashmobs, texting and touchscreens – who knows how romance survived without all of that?

We can’t help but be a little interested in the GQ office, which is decked out in stylish mahogany furniture, bright open rooms, and makes us fantasize about working at such places (if we didn’t already), where everyone looks and dresses as cool and stylish as Dylan. Jockeying for attention with Dylan, the Art Editor, is bold gay sports editor Woody Harrelson, full of bohemian energy and his favourite “Are you sure you’re not gay?” joke.

Among the most watchable actors are Patricia Clarkson, who plays Lorna, Jamie’s free-thinking, really-not-a-shoulder-to-lean-on mom, and Richard Jenkins as Dylan’s dementia-afflicted dad, who spends his time giving sensible advice on relationships and walking around without his pants.

As with most Friends with Benefits relationships, the film starts out with the promise of lots of sex, which is only partly delivered, and slowly turns to romance city. Guys, will of course be disappointed, girls delighted. Men can still dream of either being Justin Timberlake, GQ’s art director, or both – but there are no lessons here on how to pull off a that elusive Friends with Benefits arrangement. The only lesson guys might take away is that women love to cuddle after – and if you didn’t know that one already, you’re in trouble.